Sweden recognises church of file sharing as a religion

A group of 3,000 Swedish file sharers have succeeded in getting
their organisation, called the Church of Kopimism,
recognised as a religion by the Swedish authorities.

The movement has been trying to gain official recognition for
their beliefs in sharing and data copying since 2010. The church's
name comes from "Kopimi", pronounced "copy me". The organisation
believes that communication and sharing is sacred and needs to be
respected. They also think it is wrong to monitor and eavesdrop on
people. The church has applied for official status a number of
times and had its request denied, most recently in July 2011.

However, just before Christmas Kopimism was approved as an
official religion (as opposed to a sect), although founder Isak Gerson and chairman Gustav
Nipe only opened the letter containing the news yesterday. Before
being approved by the National Judicial Board for
Public Lands & Funds, the church was required to
formalise its way of praying or meditation.

Founder and philosophy student Isak Gerson told Wired.co.uk:
"Our main ritual is the act of copying and connecting with each
other by sharing information."

He added: "Just being recognised by the state of Sweden will
help strengthen our identity."

The new religious status doesn't make file sharing legal for
Kopimists -- although there are a few exemptions from some laws for
religions in Sweden -- but Gerson hopes that their beliefs may be
considered in future legislation. The next step for the
organisation is, according to Gerson, to "develop our religious
practice".